Announcing quitline RFPs to vendors – 1/4/10

Q: The Kentucky Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Program is trying to announce a quitline RFP to potential vendors, but is not allowed to send an email or ask the North American Quitline Consortium (NAQC) to post the RFP on their listserv. The Procurement Office can send postcards to vendors, but does not have a complete list of all vendors. How do other states announce their quitline RFPs?

A:

1. Alabama: We have asked for NAQC's list of vendors so we can mail it out ourselves.  Barring that, try asking CDC for a list of organizations currently providing quitline services. Or, check the participant list from the last NAQC conference.
    
2. Connecticut: Although we were allowed to post our RFP through NAQC and 'advertised' that way, we have also sent RFP's directly to all companies as well.  The list on the NAQC website is pretty current.
    
3. Delaware: For Delaware we were able to submit to NAQC when we had the RFP announcement for the Quitline. Our Delaware Health and Social Services agency website also has a listing of current RFPs for the Department (which would have included the Quitline). RFPs also appear in the legal notices of the local newspapers (through the procurement office).
    
4. Idaho: The Idaho Tobacco Prevention and Control program uses http://www.sicomm.net/ to post all RFPs.  Most quitline vendors are registered to this website and receive information about RFPs.
    
5. Indiana: In Indiana, we provide a list of vendors that we specifically want our procurement office to notify about the RFP. Word of mouth works quite effectively too!
    
6. Missouri: Our Office of Administration (OA - which is a separate state agency) posts all RFPs on the state website. Vendors can sign up to get notified when RFPs, bids, etc. are posted – and they can choose the topics that interest them. As the state agency needing the service, we are not allowed to communicate with potential vendors, but the OA procurement officer can.
    
7. Nebraska: There is a listing of all vendors and their associated states in the appendix of a CDC quitline document. Granted that would be somewhat dated, but we had our procurement office send postcards to everyone that was included in the appendix. Editor’s note: The vendor list can be found in the 2004 guide, “Telephone Quitlines: A Resource for Development, Implementation, and Evaluation,” which is available here.
    
8. New Hampshire #1: There is a list of quitline vendors in the CDC Quitline Guidance document. Personalized announcements can be sent to these vendors.  We also post the RFP on our Department website and put a Legal Notice in a statewide paper. TCN editor’s note: the document, “Telephone Quitlines: A Resource for Development, Implementation, and Evaluation,” (2004) is available here.
   
   New Hampshire #2: By statute or policy it needs to be in 'the paper'. It is also posted online, and once posted staff can forward the link, etc.
    
9. New York: Perhaps the TCN can commit to notifying NAQC and QL vendors when the RFP is released. NY sent emails to all known US-based Quitlines and asked NAQC to announce the release.
    
10. Ohio: Ohio posts the RFP on the State of Ohio’s website for new contracts and we are also allowed to send the link to possible vendors.
     
11. South Dakota: We did not post the RFP on the listserv, but we posted notice of it on the listserv. The South Dakota Quitline RFP received proposals from four national vendors, all of which came from vendors who saw the listserv notice. The way we worded it was as follows:
    
    The SD-DOH, Tobacco Control Program is pleased to announce the new RFP for Telephone-based Tobacco Cessation Counseling for the SD-QuitLine. Any QuitLine service providers who are interested in this RFP should contact ____ at the SD Department of Health: ____@state.sd.us.
     
12. Texas: Does the state have to post the RFP on a state web-site so that all potential bidders can see it? It may be that NAQC or some other organization can pick it up from that website and re-post it. We just had that happen when our state local health officers association distributed the posting we had for an emergency contract for quitline services. It was posted on the Texas Register, which is the “official” state publication for legal notices, and then we began getting questions from our stakeholders about the change in vendor. So, second party distribution does work.
     
13. West Virginia: There is a ‘registry’ that States can announce their various RFPs that vendors frequently check-on.

Other responses:

1. Tobacco Control Network (TCN): The TCN has sent quitline RFPs out to states to distribute to their quitline vendors for consideration. That may be a way to get around all the restrictions and challenges KY is experiencing.
    
2. North American Quitline Consortium (NAQC): Thank you for sharing this information with NAQC. As you guessed, Kentucky is not a member of NAQC and the NAQC listserv is only available to our members. KY is welcome to send a request to include the RFP information in NAQC’s newsletter, which gets distributed to all members. The request can be sent to our communications manager, Gannon Wegner, at GWegner@naquitline.org.

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